In interaction voice response (IVR) system is an automated telephone information system that speaks to the caller with a combination of fixed voice menus and realtime data from databases. The caller responds by pressing digits on the telephone or speaking words or short phrases. Applications include bank-by-phone, flight-scheduling information and automated order entry and tracking.
IVR systems allow callers to get needed information 24 hours a day. They are also used as a front end to call centers in order to offload as many calls as possible to costly human agents. In such cases, IVR systems do not replace the agent, but help to eliminate the need for them to constantly answer simple, repetitive questions.
A disadvantage of such IVR systems is that their call flows are relatively predetermined. A call flow is the sequence of voice prompts to the user within a call to an IVR system. Within the prior art, the call flow is modified only on the basis of the user's response to a given voice prompt. That is, a call flow can be programmed in which there are conditional voice prompts, based on the answers provided by users to other voice prompts. Otherwise, however, call flows are preordained, and not modifiable.
For this and other reasons, there is a need for the present invention.